So first off, I needed to purchase tickets for the show. I had contact from one of the bands offering early entry, meet and greet with the band concerned, including photo opportunities etc, so naturally I jumped at the chance, and went directly to the website to purchase tickets. And then the time came to travel over to Cannock, which is quite local to me. Access and parking is always painless in Cannock, as there is a massive car park literally a stones throw away from the venue. So all was going well.

On arrival at the venue, the early entry was questioned by the door staff, but this was soon ironed out. The meet and greet with the band unfortunately did not happen as promised, which was a little disappointing, but hey ho, things like this happen all the time, so no hard feelings. We didn’t get to meet any of the bands pre show, so we settled for a drink at the bar. The friendly bar staff soon made us feel glad to be there and I have to say, there’s not many bars you can go into, pay £5 for 3 bottles of Stella, and have a whole night of live music for £7 per ticket, so the evening was looking up!

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First on were Quiet The Thief, a 4 piece band from Stoke on Trent. Stig Chell on guitar and vocals, Neil Bailey on lead guitar and backing vocals, Robert Hussey on drums, and Gareth Harding on bass. This band soon got the place warmed up, demonstrating some great original material and engaging with the audience well. I warmed to these guys instantly, and I’m hopeful that they will hit me up to do an interview for The Rock Asylum soon. Take a look at them in action.

Witch Tripper followed, a fantastic 3 piece from Mansfield. Jimmy Collins on drums, Richie Barlow on lead guitar and vocals, and Chris Stoff Daughton on bass. These guys were friendly, full of confidence, great performers and most importantly, they rocked! Witch Tripper epitomised what rock and roll is all about. I will hopefully be featuring this band on my blog in the not too distant future.

Next up were Mallen, whom I’ve seen a number of times over the last year. Kelly-Jane on vocals, Dann and Rhys on guitar, Joe on bass and Tom on drums and backing vocals. These guys always put on a solid performance. I noticed that vocalist Kelly-Jane has improved immensely, and she worked hard to get the audience involved throughout the set. Her relationship with the other band members shone through during the performance.

Then it was time for the headliners, Fahran. Matt Black on vocals, Jake Graham on lead guitar, Joshua Ballantyne on bass, JR Fahran on drums, and Chris Byrne also on lead guitar. I have to say that after watching footage of them in action, I was excited to see what these guys could do. In my opinion, they lived up to expectations, in particular with their style of performing. The audience certainly got what they came for, a full on, in your face, ballistic performance. I’m sure that the future will be bright for these guys, hopefully they will be headlining some bigger shows soon enough.

In summary, despite a few minor issues at the beginning of the night, the evening was above standard and thoroughly enjoyable. There were obvious technical issues with most of the bands at some point during the performances, but this in no way detracted from the quality of the bands and their material.

In my opinion, I would of been happy to pay to watch any of these bands in a headlining position, such was the quality throughout.

I sincerely hope that I get the opportunity to feature these bands in more detail in the near future, and I’m intrigued to find out more of their stories, including any new material they may be working on right now. A big thank you to those who did engage with me and I would welcome some contact from them.

I’d also like to thank Dave Briggs for providing photography for the night. You can check out his facebook page here. Below are just some of the images from the gig.